New crockery and fabric

New crockery makes me happy, something I need to remind myself on a rubbish week like this one.

I found this Portmeirion "crazy daisy" jug in a second hand shop in Glasgow a few weeks ago. It's a useful size and matches my Portmeirion cake stand.

My sister in law gave me this funky pyrex gravy boat recently (as well as baking this victoria sponge. Isn't she good to me?) I'm starting to gather an interesting pyrex collection alongside all my china.

And onto my fabric purchases! It's safe to say that my friend Alice and I got a bit overexcited in the Mandors fabric stores in Edinburgh and Glasgow. In fact, we were so overwhelmed by the choice in Glasgow that we went away to have tea and cake and ponder before returning to make our purchases. 

Tractors, cupcakes, dinosaurs, bobbin reels and elephants. Needless to say, I am a fan of novelty prints.

I've been looking for a suitable dinosaur print fabric for at least two years to turn into a dress and I've finally found one! Usually they're a bit too baby-ish in design or garish in colour but this one's unusually subtle; dinosaur print without being too in your face. I like that the dinosaurs even have happy faces.

The tractor fabric is destined to become a skirt. Who wouldn't want a skirt covered in tractors? It's going to be my first project.

Anyone else got any interesting projects on the go at the moment?

Recent finds and lemon obsession

Oh dear it has been almost two weeks since my last post! My only excuse is that I'm settling into a new work routine. Don't worry, I've still been baking.

I know images of daffodils and cupcakes with mini eggs have been doing the rounds in the blogosphere recently, but surely a few more image won't hurt?

I've baked lemon cupcakes three times in the last two weeks, all with lemon curd centres, YUM! If you have been following my blog for a while you'll know that I love lemons in baking. I can't get enough of the zingy flavour and cheery colour.

I also felt it was time to do a little charity shop "haul post". First up is my Jasmine Woods Ware dinner plate. Yay, I've finally found a utility china dinner plate! What is on my plate I hear you ask...... lemon chicken! Mum has become slightly obsessed with making it. What can I say, my family loves lemon.

I also found four Grindley Petal Laburnum soup plates and few weeks ago. I can't remember their exact price, somewhere between 20p and 50p each, so pretty good. Although I like how practical and simple the Woods Ware design is, I do love the frilly edge on the Grindley design.

Last but not least I found two pyrex dishes for £1.50 which match mum's big casserole dish. Mum's dish used to belong to Granny but she gave it to us after ours exploded after an unfortunate toad in the hole incident....

Has anybody else been having success in the charity shops recently?

Nutella cupcakes

I don't know why it has taken me so long to try this recipe but it was worth the wait. Words cannot describe how deliciously chocolatey and nutella-y these are. I can see myself baking these again this week because they are that good. If you love nutella, please refrain from eating it all (like I usually do) and use it in this recipe. You will love it!

I took these to work this week for my coworkers as I'm leaving my job on Thursday. They can't be too upset if I give them cake before I go. Some may say I am mad to leave even a poorly paid job in this rubbish economic climate to become a full time artist, but I feel ready for a change and it'll be exciting.

I can't decide what I like best about these cupcakes. The smooth icing, the fluffy sponge, or the thick dollop of nutella in the centre. I was so pleased that the sponge turned out so big and fluffy as the last couple of times I used Hummingbird cupcake recipes the sponges came out a bit stodgy.

If you fancy making these (which you should!) the recipe can be found in the first Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook or you can find it through Helen's blog. I can now see why this is one of her favourite recipes.

Do you like the new blog header? I fancied a change but unfortunately I am completely useless when it comes to photo editing. Does anyone know why the image is slightly blurry? I do very basic editing (colour balance/lighting/cropping) through Windows Photo Gallery and added my text this time through Picnik. I saved it at as high a quality as possible (least amount of compression) but I'm still not 100% happy. Then again I thought my last header was a bit blurry too! Any suggestions or tips will be greatly received!

Beryl ware and pyrex

I found four, oval Beryl ware plates at 20p each in a charity shop last week. I don't know whether they're oval dinner plates or serving plates. Either way, I enjoyed eating Heinz spaghetti and toast on them last week. Here's an up to date photo of all my Beryl ware.

Although I'm delighted with my growing Beryl and Jasmine stash, I'd really like to find some Iris. I haven't come across any so far. Does anyone else find that they end up with way more of one style/colour than the other?

I also found a little pyrex jug in another shop for 10p. At that price I couldn't leave it behind.

I can easily see myself collecting loads of pyrex too but even I recognise that I need to reign myself in somewhere!

Unfortunately I haven't baked anything since the beetroot brownies but I do have lots of baking plans for the next week or so. Fudge is at the top of my list, I fudging love fudge! Christmas is fast approaching so I need to get a wiggle on with my Christmas baking.

Utility china and lemon tart

Here they are, my new sideplates all washed and pretty on the draining board :)

Firstly, a big thank-you is in order to my sister-in-law, Fiona who stumbled across a clearout of a store for an old local shop in town and told me there was a massive stash of lovely crockery. It turns out it was the best type of crockery, Utility China! With a pile of plates in my hand I asked the lady if she had any more in that range and she took me to one of the back rooms and holy moly I have never seen so many stacks of sideplates in my life!!! Perfect because I didn't really have an sideplates in my general crockery collection. I got 22 sideplates and two cups and saucers for £5. If it's open tomorrow morning I'm going back to buy more of the green teacups and saucers (I told myself I had enough teacups and saucers at home and that two extra was enough, but it really isn't! 22 sideplates may not be enough either...) I'm also going to see if there are any dinner plates. There was just so much in the store that it was hard to think!

A gorgeous mix of Alfred Meakin, Johnson Bros, Peach Petal Grindley, Rose Leaf Grindley, Myrtle Leaf Grindley and Petal Ware Grindley.

It was necessary to celebrate the arrival of the new sideplates with triangle sadwiches and a lemon tart (nothing to do with the fact I had watch the pastry episode of Great British Bake Off earlier this week...) Plus I thought the lemon flavour would match the pastel colours. I'm even secretly delighted that the ham in the sandwiches match the pink cakestand.

Enjoying afternoon tea with Dad. I like how Mum's Denby Juice teapot, milk jug and sugar bowl match the utility china.

The filling of the tart was excellent, similar to a Bakewell Tart but with lemon curd instead of raspberry jam. It's also the first time I've made lemon curd, yummy and surprisingly easy. I found the pastry a little bit too dry and crumbly, probably because I'm pants at pastry and most likely over worked it. It also didn't need an egg, which I thought was a bit strange, but I'm no pastry expert and it certainly didn't spoil the over all flavour of the tart.

Lancaster Lemon Tart

Recipe from Traditional Teatime Recipes by the National Trust (Nice book, each recipe has a story of its origins and/or recommends a tea to compliment the flavours!)

Shortcrust pastry

450g (1lb) plain flour, sifted

a pinch of salt

100g (4oz) butter, softened

100g (4oz) lard, softened

3-4 tbsp cold water

Filling

150g-175g (5-6oz) lemon curd. *I made mine following a Delia recipe which I'll write at the bottom of the post.*

100g (4oz) butter, softened

100g (4oz) caster sugar

2 eggs, beaten

3 tsp lemon juice

75g (3oz) self-raising flour, sifted

25g (1oz) ground almonds

To make the pastry, mix together the flour and salt then rub in the fats until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Gradually add water, mixing with a fork, to give a stiff but pliable dough (I don't think I added enough!) Knead lightly for a few minutes until smooth then wrap in clingfilm and chill for at least 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F, gas mark 4 and grease a 20cm (8inch) loose bottomed round flan tin. On a floured surface, roll out the pastry and use to line the tin (I had quite a bit of excess). *The recipe didn't mention blind baking but I did. Stuck it in at gas mark 6 for around 15 minutes* Spread the lemon curd over the base. Beat together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs and lemon juice beat well. Add the flour and almonds and fold in with a metal spoon. Spread the mixture over the curd and smooth out. Bake for 35 minutes or until the sponge springs back when lightly pressed. Remove from oven, dredge with icing sugar and leave to cool in the tin.

*Lemon curd, from Delia's Complete Illustrated Cookery Course (completely forgot I owned this. It makes the perfect amount of curd for the tart, plus a little excess to spread on a bit of toast!)

grated rind and juice of 1 large, juicy lemon 

75g (3oz) caster sugar

2 large eggs

50g (2oz) unsalted butter

Place the grated lemon rind and sugar in a heatproof bowl. In another bowl whisk together the lemon juice and eggs then pour this mixture over the sugar. Add the butter cut into small pieces and place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir frequently until thickened (about 20 minutes) and leave to cool before spreading onto tart base.

Cakestands make me feel happy

Today was a completely pants day at work. There were some grumpy, down right rude customers and it was stupidly busy in the afternoon which made us incredibly late closing up.

Everything, however, was forgotten when I came home to find my ebay parcel at the bottom of the stairs.

Isn't it pretty? It's Royal Winton Grimwades (of course!) and was fairly cheap for Royal Winton as it has a chip in the centre of the middle plate but it really isn't that noticable. Other than that it's in very good nick. I couldn't resist taking a photo of it with my other two Royal Winton possessions.

AWWWWWWWW!

Can't wait to bake something pretty to display on them.

Boston cream cupcakes and new crockery!

*DRUM ROLL*

Ta-da! Here are my new ebay purchases. This is the beginning of my Woods Ware (Utility) China collection for my future house.

I first came across Woods Ware after googling "1940s kitchen" some time last year (yeah, I look up kitchen porn occasionally) and came across this page. I pretty much decided it was going to be my main crockery in my future house as I love the shape and and mix and match colours. Then earlier this year I came across blogs such as Kitschen Pink, Little Gem's World  and A Thrifty Mrs who collect the crockery too. If you want to die of crockery excitement then check out the Utility China flickr page. After not finding the crockery the old fashioned charity shop way, I went to good old ebay to start me off. Next mission is to get some of the blue Woods Ware (iris).

On to the baking..... I'm steadily working my way through the Hummingbird Cake Days book (as is my sister in law. She has been a baking like a demon recently.) Last night I made the Boston cream cupcakes which are a little bit more fiddly than I would usually bother with because it involves making custard for the filling. This is the first time I have made home made custard (woohoo!) It went a tiny bit lumpy, not much, a little bit of sieving did the trick.

Do you like my rubber duck cake cases?

Mmmmmmm custardy centre.

Granny's kisses

I had 10 minutes to kill in town before I started work today, so what did I do? Go to the Curiosity Shop! This is what I bought.

They're suitably chintzy and match the cakestand I bought from the same shop at Easter. I love the octagonal rim of the teacups, it makes them nice to drink from. They were priced at £5 each but when I got to the till the lovely lady gave me £5 off because she had come across my post about the cakestand on my blog after googling her shop name! Hurray! Fancy that. So I'm going to shamelessly promote the shop again. Look at how beautiful the teacups are! However I can't visit this shop too often as I would end up buying half of its contents.

Despite feeling tired after work and suffering from sore feet, I knew I had to bake something to put on those little plates. It had to be my Granny's kisses.

They're girly, pink, sweet and biscuity. What's not to love! I thought I would include the recipe this time as I'm a bit more organised this evening.

Granny's kisses

6oz margarine

2.5 oz icing sugar

6oz self-raising flour

2oz cornflour

Cream together the margarine and icing sugar. Add the flour and cornflour (I mix this together by fork as it makes a stiff mixture). By hand, divide into little knobs and put onto a lined baking tray. I keep them quite a rough shape and the mixture should make around 18 knobs (9 kisses). Set onto the middle shelf of the oven for 10-12 minutes at Gas mark 6. Keep an eye on them as they burn really quickly. Leave to cool, then sanwich together with pink butter icing.

What a load of crock...ery

Out of boredom I decided to upload a photo of the bookcase in my bedroom which holds the majority of my fancy crockery. It's an old bookcase from my Granny's house which Mum inherited after she got married and repainted white. It was in my room for a while when I was little, but for the past 8 years or so it has been sitting in the garage storing boxes of nails, hammers etc. (shameful treatment!)

When I moved home after uni, and moved bedroom, Mum thought it would be a shame for my crockery to stay packed away in storage, especially when I had moved to a bigger bedroom and had space to display them. She remembered about her bookcase so we gave it a good clean and moved it back into the house. My dad thinks it looks grubby (he obviously isn't familiar with the phrase "shabby chic") but I think it looks beautiful.

The top shelf holds my old, tiny teasets which I've either inherited or been given as birthday presents when I was little. The teaset on the far right belonged to Granny Thomson when she was a little girl. The second shelf holds my Cath Kidston crockery; check out my mix and match teacups and saucers! The third and fourth shelves are a mixture of new crockery (such as the portmerion cake stand), second hand shop finds and things I've inherited from grandparents. The bottom row is my retro shelf. I inherited the tins and the other things were found in Iconic, a second hand shop in the Grassmarket in Edinburgh, except from the teacup which I bought in Munich. My flowery piggy bank boot also seems to have snuck onto that shelf, but it does match the storage jar.

Lemon love

I unexpected bought a three tier cake stand from the Curiosity Shop in Kirkwall today. It was only £18 and begging to go to a loving home (mine!) Look at how pretty it is!

The yellow it's so chintzy and cheery, and perfect for spring. I assembled the cakestand as soon as I got home and baked some lemon buns to continue the yellow theme. Then, naturally, I had to have a little tea party to celebrate the cakestand's arrival.